Introduction[]
Arthur rides the swings in the Reads’ yard.
Arthur: D.W. won't let herself have fun, unless we do exactly what she wants to do.
Flashback: Arthur flies a kite in the park, while the rest of the family has a picnic. D.W. looks grumpy.
Mrs. Read: Why don't you help Arthur fly the kite? You love kite-flying.
D.W.: Because I didn't wanna come to the park. I wanted to go to the movies.
In a fantasy, a deep-sea fish escapes from a submarine with Arthur and D.W. steering it.
Arthur (narrator): Even if we went to the most exciting place on Earth...
Arthur: There it is! We’ve done it! We found the legendary lost continent of Atlantis.
D.W.: I didn't wanna find the lost continent of Atlantis.
Arthur: Wow! A crowd of Atlanteans is coming out to greet us.
D.W.: I'm going home.
She gets up.
Arthur: D.W. you have to steer. We’re crashing!
An alarm beeps.
The fantasy ends. In the yard, D.W. gets out of a cardboard box painted like a submarine.
D.W.: (grunts)
She gets out, the box falls to the other side and Arthur rolls out on the lawn.
Arthur: Whoa! Ow!
D.W.: We never go anywhere I wanna go!
She goes to the house. Arthur lies upside down against a tree.
Arthur: Oh...
Title Card: Super Sister[]
Arthur and his parents are in the living room.
Mr. Read: It's a holiday weekend and I don't have to cater any parties. Let's go somewhere!
Arthur: How about...
Mrs. Read: Other than Bionic Bunny Playland.
Pause.
Arthur: How about Washington, D.C.? We've been learning about government in school.
Mr. Read: That's a capital idea! (silly laugh)
Mrs. Read: (sighs)
Mr. Read: It's a capital idea. Washington is the nation's capital. Get it?
Arthur: Yeah, I got it the first time.
Mrs. Read: Let's take a vote. Where's D.W.?
D.W. is watching a commercial on TV, in which a rainbow flies into a corral and Sarah, Maryann and Amanda come out of it.
Jingle: “You’ve got to go to Ponyland. You should go to Ponyland. And you really must go to Ponyland.”
Girls: (laugh)
Announcer: You'll be greeted and entertained by three or more adorable ponies.
The girls run up to three brightly colored ponies. Sarah dances with one of them, while another pony plays the guitar.
Amanda: It's like a dream come true.
D.W. sits with her eyes glued to the TV. The others stand around her.
Arthur: D.W., we’re going on vacation and we get to vote on where to go. Do you hear me? D.W., do you hear me?
D.W.: Of course I can hear you. What did you say?
Mr. Read: We’re deciding where to take a weekend trip.
D.W. thinks.
D.W.: I vote for Ponyland.
Arthur: Yuck!
Pal: (whines)
He sticks out his tongue.
D.W.: I have to go! It's like a dream come true. Pleeaase!
Arthur: Remember the last time we went to a place D.W. saw on TV?
Flashback: A TV commercial shows an igloo on a tropical beach.
Announcer (on TV): Come to Santa's Igloo, where Santa spends the summer.
D.W.: Pleeaase!
Arthur: Bleagh!
Flashback: The Reads drive past a sign advertising Santa’s Igloo.
D.W.: What's it say?
Arthur: “Share a sundae with Santa and his friendly reindeer.”
Flashback: A man, partly dressed as Santa Claus, comes out of a house with an igloo-shaped façade. Behind him, a woman is dressed as a reindeer and holds the reindeer’s head in her hand.
“Santa”: Ho ho ho! Didn't you bring me a sundae? How can you share a sundae with Santa if you don't bring a sundae to Santa?
The Reads stare at him. Only D.W. smiles.
The flashbacks end..
D.W.: Okay. So maybe it won't be as great as Santa's Igloo. But I must go to Ponyland.
Mr. Read: How would you feel about going to Washington D.C.?
D.W.: Ponyland.
***
Later, Mrs. Read and D.W. look at a brochure of Washington in the living room.
Mrs. Read: There are lots of great things in Washington.
D.W.: I don't see any ponies.
***
Arthur looks into D.W.’s room while she is drawing.
Arthur: Washington is where the President lives.
D.W.: I don't care about the President. I care about ponies.
***
Mr. Read tucks D.W. in bed.
Mr. Read: If you go where Arthur chose this time, then you can choose our next trip.
D.W.: Promise?
Mr. Read: Promise.
D.W.: Okay. Okay, I’ll go.
Mr. Read: It’ll be fun.
D.W.: Since I made such a sacrifice, maybe you’ll buy me a pony.
Mr. Read: No.
D.W.: I could keep it in my room.
Mr. Read: No.
He turns off the light and leaves the room. The scenery cuts to outside of the house, as the window of D.W.'s room goes dark.
D.W.: I wouldn’t ride it in the house.
Mr. Read: NOOO~!
***
On the weekend, the Reads drive past a sign saying “Washington D.C. 100 miles”. D.W. sees a horse in a field.
D.W.: Pony. Ponies. A lucky little girl who owns a pony.
Mr. Read: This is gonna be a long ride.
Mrs. Read: Hey, D.W., let's play a game.
D.W.: Okay, let's name the ponies we pass. Blaze, Scout, Jerry, Stumper, Dasher, Dancer, Lexi...
***
In Washington, the Reads are stuck in a traffic jam. Then they drive past the Capitol building and the White House.
Arthur: Look, the White House. Maybe I'll meet the president.
In his imagination, he shakes hands with the president.
Arthur: Arthur Read, Mr. President.
President: The same Arthur Read who won the spelling bee and who played that great piano solo at the spring recital?
Arthur: Y-yeah.
President: I’ve always wanted to meet you. Hey, everybody, it's Arthur Read.
Journalists take pictures.
People: (chatter)
The fantasy ends.
Arthur: Let's park and walk around.
D.W.: Yeah, maybe if we walk enough, we'll be so tired we won't notice how bored we are.
***
The Reads are at the top of the Washington Monument.
Mr. Read: (out of breath:) The Washington Monument observation room is reached by an iron stairway of 898 steps.
D.W.: We were down there and we looked up here, now we’re up here and we look down there. What's the point?
Arthur imagines talking to the president again.
President: I need your help, Arthur. Can you help us redesign Washington? Some people don't get the point.
Arthur imagines supervising construction workers.
Arthur imagines a ribbon being cut and walking along the Lincoln Memorial Pool.
President: Great job. I especially like what you've done with the Washington Monument.
The monument is now surrounded by a spiral slide.
Man: Go! (long scream)
He lands in the Memorial Pool.
President: And nothing's more popular than your new Burger and Shake Memorial.
People stand around a fountain looking like a burger and a milk shake.
The president pins a medal on Arthur’s chest.
President: Thank you, Arthur. Your country owes you a great debt.
The fantasy ends.
***
The Reads visit the Library of Congress.
Guide: The Library of Congress contains eighty million items in four hundred and seventy languages.
D.W.: How many about ponies?
Guide: I... don't know.
D.W.: You're fired!
***
The Reads visit the Lincoln Memorial. Arthur reads from a guidebook.
Arthur: "Abraham Lincoln was the sixteenth president. He issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1st, 1863."
D.W.: Boy, look at the size of those feet. Where'd he ever buy his shoes? Was he the only giant president?
Mrs. Read: Lincoln wasn't a giant. The statue is much larger than he was.
D.W.: Wouldn't you know it? Finally something interesting, and it's a fake.
Mr. Read: D.W., can't you please just try to relax and enjoy what's here?
D.W.: Okay, Daddy. At least I'll get to see the Statue of Liberty.
Mr. Read: Um... that's in New York, honey.
D.W. disappointingly angered, where the statue is located in New York City.
D.W.: What a rip!
***
The Reads walk up to the White House.
Mr. Read: The flag's up. That means the president is home today.
Arthur: What if we meet him and become friends?
In his imagination, Arthur plays minigolf with the president on the White House lawn. They high-five.
Arthur: Alright!
President: Hey!
Arthur and the president have a soda drinking contest in the Sugar Bowl while Arthur’s friends watch. The president’s glass has the presidential seal on it.
President: You beat me again, Arthur.
Kids: Yeah! Woo!
The fantasy ends.
Mr. Read: Arthur! Come on, the tour is starting. It's the last one today.
They hurry into the building.
***
The Reads start a tour through the White House.
Guide: On the ground floor is the China Room, which contains a collection of presidential...
Mrs. Read: D.W., don't get left behind!
D.W.: How exciting: another closed door.
Guide: Follow me, please.
D.W.: We could have stayed home and locked each other out of the bathroom. It would have looked just like this.
She crawls under a cordon and walks to a partly open door.
Arthur: D.W., stop it! You're gonna get us kicked out!
D.W. comes back.
D.W.: I'm just trying to find the government.
Arthur: Don't break the rules. I don't want the president mad at us.
***
The tour continues.
Guide: During Kennedy's administration, a permanent art collection was assembled for the White House...
D.W.: I don't like this. It's full of people who make a lot of rules, and everybody's afraid of getting in trouble.
Guide: In 1948, when Harry Truman was president, the White House was found to be unsafe for occupancy.
D.W. sneaks through an open door and closes it behind her. She sees a wide hallway in front of her. She tries to get back but the door will not open.
D.W.: (strains) Uh-oh.
Her parents are on the other side of the door.
Mrs. Read: D.W.?
Mr. Read: Where is she gone? D.W.!
Arthur: Oh no, D.W.’s loose in the White House. We’re doomed.
In his imagination, D.W. sits on the president’s desk.
President: It gives me great pleasure to sign the D.W. law. It is now illegal, not to own a pony.
The journalists and guards are sitting on ponies.
Journalist: Right on, D.W.!
Pony: (neighs)
D.W.: (whispers to President)
President: And the national anthem has been changed to "Crazy Bus".
The fantasy ends.
Arthur: We’ve got to find her before she wrecks the whole country.
***
D.W. tries to open another door, but it is locked. She walks to yet another door.
D.W.: This government is way too complicated. No wonder Daddy's always complaining about it!
***
Meanwhile, the parents talk to a guard.
Mr. Read: Her name is D.W.
Agent: That's it, initials? You didn't give the kid a whole name?
Mr. Read: Er, well... (laughs unconvincingly)
***
Secret Service Agents look everywhere for D.W. D.W. sees them through a window.
D.W.: If those guys weren't so busy, I bet one of them could help me.
She comes to a large painting of a man on a horse.
D.W.: Wow!
The president comes.
President: Beautiful horse, huh?
D.W.: Yeah! Do you work here?
President: I’ve worked here for a couple of years now.
D.W.: Then maybe you can help me. My family got lost. They're with another tour guide.
President: Come on, follow me. I bet I can get you back where you came from.
He takes her hand.
D.W.: Are there more paintings with horses?
President: Oh, lots. I'll point them out on the way.
***
The President leads D.W. to her family.
D.W.: Mommy, Daddy, I saw all the horse pictures.
Mrs. Read: D.W., where were you?
D.W.: I don't know. A nice tour man brought me back.
Agent 1: This way out, folks. into his microphone: Bundle recovered. Ducks in a row. Peas in a pod.
Agent 2: What?
Agent 1: We found D.W.
Agent 2: Who lost a duck?
President: There she is! Stop them!
Two agents come out of a door and block the way out.
Arthur: Oh, great! She probably broke the constitution or something. Now we’re going to jail!
He sees the president.
Arthur: Mom, Dad, it's the...
President: D.W.? Have you and your family eaten dinner?
Arthur: The president knows D.W.??
President: I just ordered out and there's plenty to go around. Won't you join me?
D.W.: Sure.
She follows the president while Arthur stands dumbfounded.
***
The Reads sit around a table with the presidential seal. The president serves pizza.
Arthur: I won the spelling bee and played a piano solo at the spring recital.
President: Very nice.
Arthur: I bet if you could vote, you'd vote for him. Huh, D.W.?
D.W.: No. I have to know where he stands on the issues. I can't vote for someone just because he shows me a few pictures with horses.
President: (chuckles) Good for you, D.W.
Arthur: (groans)
He buries his face in his hands.
***
Late that evening, the Reads are driving home.
Arthur: I can't wait to tell everyone I met the president.
D.W.: You can tell them you met two.
Arthur: Who's the second?
D.W.: Me. I decided to be president when I grow up. I have lots of ideas how to run this country.
Arthur: (groans)
D.W.: A pony for every family. The national anthem should be easier to dance to. And picture this: National Little Sisters Rule Day.
The car drives on.